What He Never Said
by Foxieglove
Summary: Raw, Glitch and Cain are forced to walk through unfriendly territory by their Longcoat captors. When Zero starts to get under Cain's skin, Glitch has something to say about it consequences be damned.


-1It was hardly to be stood for, thought Glitch miserably, as he marched in line. They'd been doing nothing at all wrong, minding their merry own business doing . . . doing whatever it was they'd been doing. Oh, right. Plotting to overthrow the current monarch.

Well it wasn't as though they were about to do any _harm_! Yet here they were, prisoners, being made to march to certain death at hands of afore-mentioned monarch, (whom Glitch was beginning to suspect was entirely worthy of being overthrown anyway) and all without food or rest for several miles. As if shackling a group of tired, sore people to a huge log wouldn't be punishment enough for whatever it was they'd done.

What had he done anyway? Thinking made his head hurt. Glitch stopped trying and looked around at the passing greenery. He'd show _them. _He'd think instead about the lovely flowers they were passing. Or about the sunlight dappling through trees on the road ahead, and the clear air he was breathing since leaving that horrible underground place he didn't recall the name of –

"Shut up," hissed a man behind him. Well actually, the man behind him cringed. It had been the man behind the man behind him who'd spoken. Glitch frowned. He'd said nothing. Then he realized it hadn't been directed at _him_ and listened.

"Not something you're fond of remembering, are you Cain?" Another man was saying and, Glitch imagined, smiling nastily while he said it. Glitch blinked suddenly. Oh. _Cain_.

"But I should expect you wouldn't, seeing as how you were responsible for all those deaths. You gave them hope and led them to the slaughter. Your brave little Tin Men, all lined up like dominos. Of course a few escaped, but at the cost of your family. You couldn't even protect them, couldn't you?"

Glitch felt Raw cringe again and utter a low heart-wrenching moan. He knew the lion-man was feeling what Cain was feeling and not expressing. He could see without looking over his shoulder Cain's fixed expression as he tried by means of stoicism to discourage Zero's cruelty.

"You've even managed to kill your friends, I hope you know. We don't need all of you or any of you to capture your precious princess. But I'm sure her Majesty won't mind if I make it a nice long death for each of you. So you all have time to say good—"

"Would you just give it a rest already?" Glitch snapped. "He didn't kill anyone. You ordered your Longcoats to fire at will on the Tin Men after you called a false truce, as I recall the story. I _think_ I do, anyway." Glitch's face twisted in distaste. Yes, he had read that somewhere hadn't he? "Coward," he spat for good measure.

That turned out to be a mistake. "Glitch, you idiot, shut your damned mouth," Cain hissed, and said something further but Glitch couldn't hear it over the rush of air leaving his lungs as a fist sunk into his diaphragm. He fell to one knee, gasping, and a hand twisted in his hair, yanking him up again to receive more punishment. Glitch lashed out with his leg, managing to kick at air and when his foot hit something solid, it was paid back with plenty of interest.

"Enough!" barked a voice and Zero was standing over him, arm raised to the side. Two of his Longcoats backed away, sneering. Glitch, still attached to the heavy wood by his wrists and struggling to hold his end from crushing him, looked up shakily. "He needs to be able to walk."

Zero's eyes were sharp and he was nowhere near vindicated, despite the beating. His gaze flicked up to a point past Glitch. The head case shuddered and looked over his shoulder as best as he could. Raw was staring down at him in concern and sympathy. Cain was staring straight ahead; seemingly impassive to all that was happening to Glitch, yet his arms were trembling with the effort of holding more of the log's weight than he probably should.

Much to Glitch's alarm, Zero smiled. He touched the metal teeth of Glitch's zipper, almost fondly, ignoring the man's attempt to duck further down. Then he found the end and slowly unzipped him. Glitch refused to let himself moan, but he heard Raw do it helplessly behind him. Feeling cold air go into one's noggin was not something he was fond of at all, but he'd slunk down as far as he could go without losing his grip on the log. Zero reached into the pocket of his coat and pulled out something small and metal. He clicked it once, twice, and a flame hovered over the wick.

"How about a little fire, head-case?"

Glitch shut his eyes tightly and this time he did moan.

"Zero," said Cain, quietly. He sounded like he was talking through grit teeth. He usually talked like that when he was furious at something.

"Have I mentioned I hate when people interrupt me?" Zero said casually, and the flame licked the edge of one of the zippers. For a second there was nothing, and then, pain happened. Glitch gasped and his shoulders tensed, trying to move his body backwards and out from the searing flame. The metal was growing hot, and it hurt horribly and just when he couldn't stand it, Zero moved the flame across to the other metal teeth. Glitch whined.

"Stop, please stop, it _hurts_ . . ."

"That's the point," Zero said calmly, and he looked up again at something past him. Smiled. Glitch wished he would stop doing that. It was disconcerting when the person torturing you for something or other had an attention disorder. "Are we learning anything?"

Glitch wasn't sure whether the question was directed at him. He kept quiet, listening to the pained keens coming from Raw, the faint sound of Cain grinding his teeth behind a closed mouth. Zero moved the flame back and forth, and each time it hurt worse than before. Sometimes he managed not to make a sound. By the end of things, there were slivers of wood embedded beneath Glitch's fingernails and his eyes blurred until he couldn't even make out the different shades of brown between his trousers, the dirt, and the patches of skin showing through tears in the cloth.

"Good," Zero said. He put away the lighter and closed him up without gentleness, which caused Glitch to yelp loudly and in a quite undignified manner. Scalp throbbing and much sorer than he had been before, Glitch got to his feet. Zero did not look at _him_, but again at Cain who continued to wear a mask of indifference.

Glitch breathed easier when he saw the man walk off ahead to shout orders. He felt a breath blown purposefully at the back of his neck and knew to look over his shoulder. Raw's soft brown eyes met his and he made a motion behind him with his head. Glitch blinked his eyes clearer and caught Cain's full glower, pale blue and furious. What he'd done to deserve _that_, he didn't know. Also, his scalp was suddenly killing him.

"Don't you ever, _ever_, do anything that stupid again, you witless idiot," Cain gritted. "Or I will kill you myself. I do _not_ need anyone fighting my battles for me. Whatever passes between the two of us is none of your gods' damned business. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

Glitch stared in hurt bewilderment, trying to remember what he'd done wrong this time. His wrists hurt, his stomach and ribs ached as if he'd been pummeled, and it felt like someone had used his cranium for lighting matches all day. Zero's voice drifted back to them, ordering the prisoners to resume marching. Glitch shivered at the sound and the memory popped back into being as though it had never gone. He looked at Cain again, miserably.

"I'm sorry," he mouthed. Though he wasn't. He really wasn't, because Zero had been doing harm to Cain too – different harm than a flame or a beating could inflict. Worse harm, if the silent brooding behind the man's pale eyes gave any indication.

Raw coughed and Glitch's gaze went to him. "He worried for you," he whispered. "I felt. When Zero hurt you, hurt him too. Not mad at you. Scared."

If Cain heard all that, he gave no sign. Though his glare seemed to have lost its venom.

"Face forward!"

Glitch obeyed the command and kept walking. He looked up at the sun still sparkling through the canopy. Despite the pain and exhaustion that encumbered his every step, he found himself hard pressed to hold back a smile.


End file.
